Understand
by bcbdrums
Summary: "Don't leave behind what you've gained…" His head snapped up violently. "What have I gained! I am feared by most, tolerated by a few. When people see me they just see a murderer." ... One-shot. AU. No pairings.


This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Understand

© 2009 by the author (anonymous by request) in association with Daylor and Sheldon Publishing™

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission.

The author does not in any way profit from this work. All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator.

For more information: submit a review or contact the author via private message.

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_A/N: Okay, first before you read anything else...if you are one of my loyal readers (do I have any? o.O) I must tell you this is NOT a Sherlock Holmes story. It is a Sonic the Hedgehog story. I like other fandoms too..._

_Anyway, this is a gift for Treni217 of YouTube fame. She was the first person I met online, and yesterday was the anniversary of our meeting. So I, in my infinite sappiness, decided to commemorate with a little random ficlet that I'm sure she would appreciate (and she does; I posted this at deviantART first). She was kind enough to return the sentiment by drawing my Sonic fan character for me (her dA account is SonictheHedgehog26 if anyone cares to take a look)._

_So, without further ado, I give you "Understand," a Sonic the Hedgehog AU one-shot. This was mildly based on the song "One" by Metallica (guess there was further ado XD *is shot*) as well as a dream I had. But in my dream the characters were Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi... Don't ask where they came from, but I transferred the whole idea to this story... Okay, shutting up now XD;_

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Understand

"Ngh!"

_What's the matter with him?_

"Pathetic creature…"

Sonic looked up from where he had fallen. "Oh no you don't," he said, and in the blink of an eye had moved behind his opponent and roundhouse-kicked him to the ground.

"Argh!"

"Now, what the heck is wrong with you?!" he asked, looking at the lost soul before him.

"What's wrong," he said, slowly rising, "is that I'm stuck in a world of pathetic, inadequate beings like yourself!" he growled, eyes flaring with hate.

"But you _liked_ it here! You had a life, friends…you were respected—"

"I don't need the respect of lower life forms like you!" he screamed and leapt at him.

Sonic jumped back to dodge the punches, but he lost his footing and went tumbling across the rain-spattered dirt. _What's wrong with him?_ He fought to defend himself, but pulled his punches slightly, worrying about his friend more than about victory.

"Let me help, please?" he asked when they had paused for a moment to catch their breath.

"I don't need your help," he said bitterly. "You can't help me anyway…" he added after a moment.

"But I want to try…" Sonic answered hesitantly.

"You can't possibly understand!" his opponent spat at him.

"But I want to. Please…" he almost begged. It hurt him deeply to see a friend in pain.

"You can't possibly imagine…" he said, slowly standing as lightning split the sky behind him, making him look all the more devilish. "Do you know what it's like to dream and not know the people you see there? Do you know what it's like to have people call a name and not realize they're speaking to you?"

"No…" he said concernedly, brushing distractedly at the mud in his fur. "But is that worth all this fighting? All this pain?"

"Pain." he said with contempt, and advanced toward him, each step slow and deliberate. "I wonder sometimes, when I wake from those mysterious dreams…how many of them are memories?"

"I guess…it's possible some are…" Sonic said nervously, backing up as his enemy moved forward. There was a rage in his eyes that frightened him, and the storm and darkness didn't help to alleviate his fear. "But memories or dreams, it's no reason to go insane…" he offered hesitantly.

"Insane. I've always been insane. I've just been pretending all this time…" he stopped, and looked down at the rain hitting his shoes. There was a silence, filled only by the rumble of thunder as Sonic wondered what to do.

"Don't leave behind what you've gained…"

His head snapped up violently. "What have I gained?! I am feared by most, tolerated by a few. When people see me they just see a murderer."

"You can't be blamed for crimes that were out of your control…"

"And _there's_ the pity card," he glared. "People just rationalize it as, I didn't know what I was doing. I was being manipulated by someone. I misinterpreted my dreams as history and acted on them. It's not an excuse!" he shrieked.

"Calm down…" Sonic said nervously, backing up some more.

"I can't be calm. There's no peace, wondering how many people I've killed. The only person I loved died because of me! Do you know what it's like to wake up each day and seek any kind of distraction, because your soul is in constant pain?!"

"…I—"

"Shut up! You can't know! No one can!" he yelled, and launched himself at Sonic again.

Sonic jumped into a tree behind him, but his lost friend was one step ahead of him, and had teleported to the tree before he'd even landed on the branch he aimed for. He kicked Sonic to the ground, and jumped down on top of him. He seemed determined to destroy him this time.

Sonic used every trick he knew of to escape, but there wasn't anything he did where his friend wasn't matching his actions. That was the problem with fighting other empowered hedgehogs.

"Chaos Power!" his enemy called out, sending bolts of deadly energy directly toward him. Sonic easily dodged the attack, and moved a few feet off. He looked at the dark, menacing figure running toward him in the rain. But his fear wasn't for his own protection.

"You know what, you are insane," he said, trying another tactic. His enemy stopped and looked at him, surprised.

"Finally seeing reason?" he said uncertainly.

"No, I'm seeing that nothing I can do will make you believe me when I tell you that no one condemns you. We want you here with us, can't you understand that?" he said desperately.

"I don't care…"

"But you have to," he said forcefully, and started toward him. "People care about what happens to you. People have sacrificed a lot for you. You have a responsibility to them."

"I owe them nothing…"

"Yes, you do."

"They are simple-minded creatures, who obviously can't see past the ends of their noses if they think I'm worth their time," he said flatly. Sonic knew he believed it.

"Well…whether you approve or not, people do care about you. We want to help you! Whatever it takes, we're here for you. _I'm_ here for you."

He slowly looked up at him, but said nothing. Sonic tried to maintain his stern look as his opponent moved toward him, but he was honestly afraid.

The hedgehog stopped in front of him and looked into his eyes, and it was all he could do not to flinch.

"Stubborn…" he finally said, and walked past Sonic.

"No more stubborn than you are," he retorted, and he stopped. He suddenly whirled around and caught him off guard with a vicious backhand, and Sonic stumbled. He recovered immediately and spun into his friend, knocking him off his feet, and they tumbled into the woods, the one doing all he could to destroy the other, and Sonic taking far more punches than he could stand because he didn't want to hurt the other.

Sonic was scared. He'd never seen such hate in his opponent's eyes, and despite his efforts, he couldn't not defend himself.

"Chaos Power!" he yelled, holding tight to two Emeralds, and the concussive energy blast knocked his enemy a couple of feet away.

The two lay still, catching their breath. Sonic looked at his friend, who was staring straight up into the blackness as the rain poured down on them, making them aware of their wounds.

"You can have life…" he finally said.

He didn't look at him.

"The pain…the darkness…they don't have to be a prison. Let go of the battle between your heart and mind. This world wants you…"

Sonic looked at him hopefully, but the other only blinked. Sonic sighed and looked up into the sky. All he saw were the gnarled branches of trees disappearing into the blackness. They looked evil and twisted. He wondered if his friend saw them the same way.

He squinted as the rain came down a bit harder, and he looked back to his one-time friend. But he was gone. Sonic felt his heartbeat quicken slightly, and then diminish. He closed his eyes. _Even I couldn't save him from himself…_

Then, he heard something and looked up to see Shadow's face above his own. And before he could react, he felt a searing pain in his chest, and he screamed.

He glanced down to see what had hurt him, and a thick, spear-shaped branch was embedded in his chest, blood beginning to flow steadily from the wound with every gasping breath he took.

The enemy leaned in close so that he was inches from Sonic's face.

"The world is dead. I'm the only one." Sonic looked at him painfully as the hedgehog sat back and looked at him.

"Shadow…" he coughed out, and he thought he saw a tear in his enemy's eye.

Soon his vision faded until all he saw was darkness, surround him, filling him. And all he felt was the icy daggers of the rain, and the fire of his life blood spilling onto the muddied ground.

Then from a distance, he heard a voice.

"Sayonara, Sonic the Hedgehog…"

The voice was familiar, but he couldn't place it. And that name…was that his name? He couldn't remember. All he knew was pain, and darkness.

And that he was alone.

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_Author's notes: Yeah, I know it isn't my best work... Not even close... But, my friend liked it, which is what's important. And, I was writing it at seven in the morning, so I have some excuse... XD_


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